I-5: Sacramento to Redding

On day 2 of our trip we cover 170 miles, traveling from Sacramento to Redding. Many would argue that this is one of the most boring stretches of I-5 but we found plenty to do. Here are six highlights from our day:

We start our day at this museum in Old Town. We took our kids here about two years ago, when my son was 3 years old and obsessed with Thomas the Train. We were tempted to skip it on this trip but readers nudged us to return in the comments, and I’m glad we do. Now that my kids are older, ages 5 and 7, they’re actually interested in the stories behind the dozens of trains housed here.

Our favorite story is about the No. 1 Gov. Stanford, a 40-ton wood-burning steam locomotive that was the pioneer engine of the Central Pacific Railroad. It was built in 1862, then disassembled, put in crates and shipped around Cape Horn from Boston to San Francisco.

A docent named Glenn explains that the steam locomotive was retired in 1895 and eventually put on display at Stanford University. During World War II, trains were being turned into scrap metal but someone had the sense to hide the Gov. Stanford behind a brick wall in a warehouse. Today, this beautifully restored engine is the first locomotive you encounter inside the museum.

In 2007, this popular family-owned Italian restaurant and deli, an hour north of Sacramento, burned to the ground. It recently reopened and many travelers argue that the newer, shinier version lacks the charm of the original old wood building. But this isn’t stopping people from pulling off the freeway because when we visit on Saturday afternoon, I can hardly find a parking spot.

My husband is a river scientist and one of his specialties is restoring salmon habitat. Whenever we’re on a road trip he always has a few side trips in mind that involve checking out spots on rivers.

In Red Bluff, he pull the car over to look at this diversion dam. Every summer the gates are lowered to form Lake Red Bluff, which diverts water from the Sacramento River into canals to irrigate crops.

When the gates are lowered, they prevent salmon, steel head and green sturgeon from reaching their spawning grounds. But soon the gates will be forever raised and welded to the top of the structure. Fish will freely pass through this stretch of the river year-round, and a pumping plant will be built to divert water. This is all part of the nation’s largest Department of the Interior economic stimulus project.

If you’re driving I-5 this summer, it might be worth checking out Lake Red Bluff because in a few years it will no longer exist. There’s a pretty grassy park shaded by humongous sycamore trees where kids can run around.

5) Sundial Bridge, Redding, Calif.

This ultramodern $23 million bridge designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava spans the Sacramento River, and it’s breathtaking.

We stop by in the afternoon (pictured) and later return in the evening when a jazz band is playing at a cafe overlooking the bridge. The sounds of Miles Davis can be heard clear across the other side of the bridge. The night is warm and muggy, yet the Trinity Alps in the distance are capped with snow. Swarms of swallows circle the bridge, and a parade of Indian men wearing suits and women wearing gorgeous saris walk across the bridge on their way to a wedding. Let’s just say that we didn’t feel as if we were in Redding.

In 1938, Bud Pennington had the enterprising idea to sell hamburgers from a tent outside the hiring hall for the construction of Shasta Dam. He was 18 years old. At that time customers could buy a “Damburger,” a piece of pie and a cup of coffee for 25 cents.

Today, his business lives on at this restaurant, where the hamburgers are pounded flat like a pancake and cooked until the edges are crispy. My daughter says, “It tastes like bacon.”

Trip details

Miles: 170

Hours in car: 3

Expenses:

Breakfast: free at hotel

Lunch: $14.63 (Granzella’s)

Dinner: $25 (Damburger)

Entertainment: $22 (train museum)

Parking: $5 (Old Town Sac)

Hotel: $115

Total: $181.63

Trip totals

Miles: 290

Hours in car: 6

Expenses: $299.63

Read the complete I-5: S.F. to Seattle series, by clicking here. To join conversations about the road trip, check out the Bay Area Moms Facebook page. If you want up-to-the-minute updates, follow BayAreaMoms on Twitter. And if you’re going on a road trip this summer, be sure to share your photos in the Road Trip Gallery.